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Yes that would "appear" to be the case. And I'm guessing that Christians here who do believe it is true are avoiding discussing the topic with me because they think I'm trying to back then into a corner or something. I'm truly not.
I'm genuinely trying to understand the mindset I held for so long, in which something that "appears" to be untrue somehow mysteriously IS true. As a former fundamentalist/literalist, once a couple of foundational "Jenga pieces" were pulled out (including these kind of prayer promise verses), my entire faith eventually toppled. And ever since that traumatic loss of my faith, I've been trying to figure out
1) how in the world I ever believed things that, even back then didn't make any sense to the logical part of my brain, and
2) if there is any way I could ever again be comfortable in a Christian church (as I do miss many aspects of it) when I cannot believe the things its guidebook says.
So it really is more of a question about how do Christians (particularly ones who say the Bible is inerrant) share their faith with people who are stuck on things like this.
How long ago? Do you still feel traumatized?
For me, it was an incredibly freeing thing. Everything just...clicked. I realized that I had not really believed any of it for quite some time.
Wow, is this really the best way you know how to share your beliefs? I never said I was bothered that the vast majority of the world is religious. I said nothing like that at all. I posted here with sincere questions, and you respond to me with hatred.
Really??? And I would want to adopt your belief system because......?????
We have a handful of posters who take every opportunity to stand on their soapbox and go on about their favorite rant, whether it is germane or not. The rants tend to be illogical, full of inaccuracies, and a bit "off". You learn to just skip their posts.
For me, it was an incredibly freeing thing. Everything just...clicked. I realized that I had not really believed any of it for quite some time.
It all came undone about 12 years ago. It does not still feel *traumatic*, but I will probably always feel troubled by, or at least deeply regret, that part of my life. I raised my children that way (I have definitely apologized, and thankfully they no longer hold those beliefs), I even homeschooled them so they wouldn't be "contaminated by the world." I think my kids still resent that I kinda ruined their childhood, then pulled the rug out from under them with a "Whoops, I guess I was wrong about everything I taught you" when they were late teens to early 20s.
It actually took me about 3 years to fully pull away and finally stop feeling like I was going to go to hell. THAT was the terrifying part. But I finally realized if the only way I could avoid hell was to continue faking it, well, that made no sense whatsoever. What kind of God would care more about what I BELIEVED (which 3 years of faking it taught me I had no control over) instead of caring how I lived my life???
You certainly do like to paint over the wide variations in the religious world which, in reality, tend to cancel each other out.
<snp
So get hip and disabuse yourself of the "god belief". It's too wildly diverse to be real.
The beliefs ABOUT God have no impact on the Existence of God which remains an empirical question.
The beliefs ABOUT God have no impact on the Existence of God which remains an empirical question.
Gods, plural. And using Bayes, the different beliefs about different gods does have an impact on the probability on the existence of a god or gods. I thought you had taught this for 30 years?
Been about three years since I read a post of his. He's a waste of time and bandwidth.
Really? The logical conclusion of his arguments that the universe is a rubber duck is a waste of time and bandwidth?
For me, this is like digging in the garden and finding gold. OK, that is hyperbole. OK, for me, this is like digging in the garden and finding a piece of broken colored glass.
I like Ganesh. He helps one overcome obstacles, but he also provides the obstacles in the first place. I think that's a wonderful way of helping us humans stretch ourselves farther than we might have otherwise.
Or else he's just mean and setting us up for his own entertainment.
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